flight needed to reach its target, the u.s. capitol. that would have been catastrophic. and if qahtani died on flight 93, he would not have been captured at tora bora, and we would not have learned the name of bin laden's courier from him. jose melendez perez. he is a little like the jimmy stewart character in a movie getting played a lot this week, "it's a wonderful life," the frank capra classic. remember, george bailey saved his brother harry from drowning when he fell through the ice as a boy. and as a result, harry was there in world war ii to save the men of a transport boat, winning the medal of honor. well, it happens in real life too. one person can make a difference. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show." tonight from minneapolis, the republican party is in ruins. maybe we can actually get a deal now. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> call me a hopeless optimist,

but i actually still think we can get it done. >> president obama is doing everything he can to avert a fiscal cliff disaster for the middle class. the republican implosion gives democrats even more leverage in the fiscal cliff negotiations. i'll ask dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz, will this latest move by the president be enough? revolting, tone-deaf, disastrous. the nra blames everything but guns for gun violence in america including 20-year-old video games, and they reverse an opportunity to heal the country for a commercial for more guns. >> the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> congressman jim moran and reverend jesse jackson react to today's circus. >> this is the beginning of a serious conversation. we won't be taking questions. reporting for duty.

>> and john kerry biographer douglas brinkley on the senator's big nomination. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. it's home for the holidays with no deal. house speaker john boehner only has himself to blame. boehner's plan b gimmick failed big time last night at this point a fiscal cliff deal with boehner's members would probably require divine intervention. >> how we get there, god only knows. but all i've done is -- eric and i and our team here are committed to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capitol and the white house to address it. >> after a day with dealing with humiliation, boehner hit the gavel and sent his members home for the holidays. there will be no deal this weekend. then boehner took the walk of shame out of the capitol. it's unclear whether he will be the speaker in the new year. it was the same sad walk many house members took last night

when they couldn't get their own folks to vote on boehner's plan b. republican leaders can't strike a deal with their own members. how will they strike one with the president of the united states? boehner was scrambling for excuses today. >> you know, one of my colleagues the other night had an analogy of 100 people drowning in a pool and that he was a lifeguard. and because he couldn't save any of them, does that mean he shouldn't have done anything? and his point to them was that if i can go in there and save 99 people that are drowning, that's what i should do as a lifeguard. but the perception was out there and a lot of our members did not want to have to deal with it. >> far right members of the republican caucus are behind this meltdown. other republicans were outraged by the failure and were defending speaker boehner today. >> it's just a real shame, because he has worked his heart out to try to get the best deal

he can. and to have this happen, this is very sad for the country. >> vote on it tonight. you know where i am. i say take the 250. get it done. >> it's unbelievable. this is horrible. i'm angry. i'm sad for my friend, the speaker, and i'm sad for the country. we deserve better. >> but outgoing tea party congressman alan west seemed more than happy to blow up the big deal. >> what did they say in there? what did they say happened? >> they say merry christmas, okay? merry christmas, so the lump of coal is in president's box. >> it all come downs to how much they hate the president of the united states. republican leaders are now trying to wash their hands of the whole thing. they know the country will blame the gop if we go over the fiscal cliff. >> it's the president's job. it's his job to find a solution that can pass the congress.

he is the only one who can do it. >> president obama met with speaker boehner and senate majority leader harry reid today, but still there is no deal. the president took to the podium late this afternoon to explain the next step. >> in the next few days, i've asked leaders of congress to work towards a package that prevents a tax hike on middle class americans, protects unemployment insurance for 2 million americans and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction. that's an achievable goal. that can get done in ten days. >> you know, president obama today could have come out, and he could have just punched boehner right in the nose. he could have come out and kicked the guy today when he was politically down. but the president came out today with a demeanor of, hey, let's do a deal. it was a rough night at the office, but let's not give up on this. president obama has gone back to the basics. the days of the grand bargain he knows are over. but the president wants an

extension on tax cuts for income below $250,000, as well as extended unemployment benefits. what's wrong with that? spending cuts can be dealt with later on in the future. and, of course, as luck would have it, there is already a bill exactly like this sitting in the united states senate. harry reid passed it back in july, and republicans refused to vote on it. boehner, why don't you vote on that? the time for complaining about this deal, totally over. >> nobody can get 100% of what they want, and this is not simply a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn't. >> don't you think republicans need to be careful about pushing back on this for the good of the country? if no deal is struck this year, president obama, what does he have? well, he's got the inauguration coming up. a big platform. he's got the state of the union address coming up. a big platform. he is going to have a better chance to have the american people on his side. president obama urged all members of congress to get some

perspective over the holiday weekend on this. >> everybody can cool off. everybody can drink some eggnog, have some christmas cookies, sing some christmas carols, enjoy the company of loved ones, and then i'd ask every member of congress while they're back home to think about that. think about the obligations we have to the people who sent us here. think about the hardship that so many americans will endure if congress does nothing at all. >> that is a crucial point right there, folks. here is president obama. not saying, you know, boehner can't get his caucus together. i got my folks together. we're ready to rock 'n roll. we've got a deal right on the table for the american people. it's boehner, he is the problem. the president didn't do that. today every american should be encouraged about the fact that there is leadership coming out of the white house. this president has got so many olive branches coming out of the windows of the white house,

nobody could cut them off. the fact is, this president has done everything he can. he even put social security on the table. that's right, chained cpi. that was there. he said he wasn't going to do it, but he wanted a deal. and the president is explaining not everybody is going to get what they want. americans are very clear on the solution they want. higher taxes for the wealthiest americans and sensible cuts in spending. that's where the country is right now. last night republicans destroyed their own party because they refused to agree with the american people. but, of course, they think if they do something that might align themselves with president obama, it's going to be their political death knell. they have it all screwed up. it's time to hand the keys back to the adults. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, do republicans want the country to go over the fiscal cliff? text "a" for yes. text "b" for no to 622639. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. we'll bring you the results

later on in the show. i'm joined tonight by congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. congresswoman, great to have you with us tonight. >> thanks. >> and the chair of the dnc. this has been a real circus the last 24 hours. the president today, congresswoman, went back to the basics. he basically said, let's just all get along on the 98%. >> right. >> let's just vote on that. why won't john boehner go there and trust the president that all of you can work on spending cuts after the first of the year? what's wrong with that? >> well, there is certainly nothing wrong with it, and that's the certainly that we should have already been able to give the middle class. it's what the president has been pushing for, and we have the bill that the senate sent us in july sitting in the house, ready to be voted on and sent to the president. but, you know, look. doing the right thing, doing the right thing, ed, is hard. you know, it does. it carries political risk. i mean, i know that. my fellow democrats who voted for that debt ceiling deal last

summer, where there was a trillion dollars in spending cuts only with no revenue, no balance, you know, we got the debt ceiling increase, but we put our cards on the table and voted for a trillion dollars in spending cuts. and then, you know, me and my progressive district, i had to go home and defend it. and there were folks at home that didn't want me to vote for it. and that was politically risky. but in order to make sure that we didn't jeopardize the full faith and credit of the country, i voted for that deal, because it was important. and that is what we need to do. we've got to come together. and everybody's got to give a little. we have ten days. we can get this done. i share the president's optimism. i know, and you saw some of those republican members that were interviewed that were disappointed at the result last night. we can put together a majority of the congress, a majority of the house and get this deal done. >> do you think that if the senate bill that passed, harry reid's bill, if it were put into the congress right now over on

the house side, that it would pass? don't the american people deserve that opportunity, an up-or-down vote on that bill that has already passed the senate? do you think it would have a shot in the house? >> i mean, if it's on the floor, i can't imagine that there would be anyone who would vote against it. it's extending tax breaks for 98% of americans and 97% of small businesses. but the problem is is that the republicans -- and, quite frankly, we want the same thing. we want a total package. we know we need spending cuts. we know we need revenue. we know we need to make sure that we deal with entitlement reform. but, look, the speaker couldn't even get his spending cuts piece of plan b through with more than six votes to spare. i mean, on the spending cuts piece. so he's got a problem. >> all right. so why not go over the cliff and fix it in the new year? i mean, it's not -- it's going to hurt some people for a while.

are you afraid that the republicans would never come back to the table if that were to happen and the country would just suffer pain? >> ed, we don't have to go over the cliff. it's not responsible to go over the cliff. the speaker and his leadership team needs to make a decision how many votes they can put on the table for a balanced plan. he needs to get back to the negotiating table with the president. i was glad to see that they spoke today. they weren't very far apart. the president has really moved in a significant direction towards the speaker. and, look, the speaker put some things on the table. putting revenue on the table is a big deal for the republicans. but we've got a little ways to go. we can get a deal done. and it's essential that we get a deal done. having to deal with it after the first of the year comes with a whole host of other complications. and we just -- we need to -- we need to all find our political courage. we need to go see the wizard. we need to do the right thing and get this done before december 31st.

>> well, i don't know who the wizard would be in this deal, but -- well, i'll tell you what. john -- >> we all have our own personal wizard, ed. >> john boehner may not be the speaker -- i don't know if he is a wizard, but he may not be the speaker next year. what are your thoughts on that? >> you know, i have no idea about the internal republican conference politics. i just know that the certainty that we have to give the middle class is essential here. >> okay. >> and i know there are good republicans and good democrats that want to do that. >> all right. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz with us tonight here on "the ed show." thanks so much. >> thanks, ed. happy holidays. >> you bet. and to you too. let's turn to karen finney tonight, former communications director of the dnc. where are we right now? i mean, who are the winners and losers right now? i think the american people are big-time losers on this deal. >> that's absolutely right, particularly after the american people spoke very clearly about what they wanted. i mean politically speaking, obviously i think the president continues to be a winner in that he has, as you were just discussing, he has tried to

move, he has tried to, you know, many olive branches. i think the american people have seen him working hard. and the polls bear it out, continue to bear it out that he retains a high degree of confidence and support from the american people. i think nancy pelosi actually comes out of this with a little bit more leverage, because it's clear that any deal that gets done is going to need democratic support. and as we know, she has been a far more effective leader than john boehner has. >> sure. moments ago, the president and his family left for hawaii on board air force one. what does this look like to the american people? i know the senate is gone and the house is gone. here goes the president to hawaii. i mean, where is the sense of urgency here? and i blame all lawmakers for this. >> i agree with you, ed. i mean, i think the optics of this is really disturbing. if you are sitting at home, and you're telling yourself, okay, i'm not quite sure what is going to happen with my tax rates and for next year.

so how much am i going to spend now on christmas? how much am i getting back? those kinds of questions, that kind of uncertainty, what is going to happen with payroll taxes, what is going to happen with unemployment. and you see everybody kind of just leaving town, great that they're willing to come back next week, but you know what, most of us when we have work to do, we sit there and we get it done. we don't get to leave and come back when it's convenient for us. so, yeah, i think it would be much better if these guys showed a little more dedication and just sat here and got it done. >> all right. home for the holidays. and no deal. karen finney, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much for joining us. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen, share your thoughts with us on twitter @edshow and on facebook. we want to know what you think. one week after the massacre at sandy hook elementary school, the nra's wayne lapierre calls for more guns in schools. congressman jim moran of virginia on the gun lobby's deep paranoia. that is next.

today the national rifle association had an opportunity

to try and unite the nation around sensible gun policy. instead they used their press conference to try and sell more guns. congressman jim moran of virginia and reverend jesse jackson on today's disgraceful sideshow. and later, john nichols, washington correspondent of "the nation" with the latest on today's fiscal cliff development, and the people who will get crushed if nothing gets done. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using the #edshow. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." on a day when a community laid

more victims to rest, on a day when a nation stopped just briefly to honor the dead, the national rifle association came out swinging, defiant, paranoid, and utterly tone-deaf. >> this is the beginning of a serious conversation. we won't be taking questions. >> but nra president david keene was just the warm-up act for the gun lobby's number one defender, wayne lapierre. wayne lapierre offered up a televised sales pitch to america, making the case to expand the gun market by demanding more guns in schools. >> with all the foreign aid the united states does, with all the money in the federal budget, can't we afford to put a police officer in every single school? i call on congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation.

>> lapierre failed to mention there were two armed security officers on duty at columbine high school. they were certainly no match for the assault weapons that the killers carried in that assault. there were armed police on campus at virginia tech. they, too, were unable to prevent the deaths of 32 people. in addition to advocating for more guns, lapierre was all too eager to dish out the blame. let's see now. he blamed the media. he blamed the president of the united states. he blamed hollywood yet failed to mention a single film made in the last decade. >> we have blood-soaked films out there like "american psycho," "natural born killers." >> and he blamed video games even though the national rifle association produces its own video game and partners with a company that produces the kind of violent games lapierre says are the problem. wayne lapierre did not, however,

place any blame on guns, and he offered no proposals to restrict firearms in any way, shape, or form. the nra sales pitch drew criticism from lawmakers of all political persuasions. new york city mayor michael bloomberg called the press conference a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country. new jersey governor chris christie told reporters that armed guards won't make schools any safer. and senator-elect chris murphy of connecticut tweeted this earlier today. "walking out of another funeral, he was handed the nra transcript. the most revolting tone-deaf statement i've ever seen." indeed. right before wayne lapierre delivered his remarks, a gunman shot and killed three people in pennsylvania. one of the victims was a woman hanging up christmas decorations in a church. let's turn to virginia congressman jim moran. congressman, good to have you

with us tonight. appreciate your time. always good to have you with us, jim, on this program. thank you. >> thank you, ed. >> what is -- what do you make of today's press conference, the reaction of the national rifle association? >> well, wayne lapierre works for the gun manufacturers. he really doesn't represent the majority of the members who are far more sane and responsible than the leadership is. you know, if you -- there is 125,000 public schools in the country. a security guard at 50,000 with benefits per year, that's $6.25 billion. do you think the nra would be willing to tax its guns and ammunition in order to pay that? i doubt it. but more importantly, ed, do we really want our children to grow up into a world where the first thing they see when they cross the school threshold is a military-style assault weapon carried by somebody with a weapon, a vest and dressed in a

s.w.a.t. uniform? i mean, it seems to me -- i know that's the world the nra envisions. but it seems to me we're so much better than that. that's not the world we want our children to grow up into. and it's time for this country to say no to the nra. the fact that you have 19 times greater likelihood of being killed by a firearm in the united states than any other industrialized nation in the world. >> yeah. >> we know there is something wrong, and we've got -- it's time to fix it. >> congressman, the nra isn't coming out of left field with this idea of police at schools. polling shows that this idea resonates with the majority of americans. what do you have to say about that? >> you know, it's up to leadership to explain some of the facts, ed. to suggest that the american people really envision what that means, we can't give in to the

gun lobby and try to, you know, make things okay when they're not. we have too many guns in this country, there's no question about that. 5% of the world's population, 50% of the world's guns. so it's up to leaders in the congress. and i think it's up to each individual member of the congress to ask themselves is my political career more -- of greater value than the lives of those children? because that's what it comes down to. >> well -- >> we all have to stand up to the nra. >> let me answer that. congressman, i don't think you're going to get one republican vote on the assault weapons ban. i don't think you're going to get one republican vote on limiting the number of bullets that can go into a magazine. i think that the republican party across the board is intimidated by the national rifle association, and until that culture in congress changes, how are we going the change the gun culture in

america? your thoughts. >> well, you're absolutely right, ed. there isn't one republican that has co-sponsored one genuine effort at restricting gun violence. but our only hope is their constituents pressuring them, calling them, writing them. >> sure. >> i mean, this is a democracy. you know, i think most people agree that you shouldn't be selling weapons to mentally ill people. >> yeah. >> but the only way to do that is to have a background check, and they oppose that. and, in fact, after virginia tech, we authorized an expansion of the national criminal background check. and then the nra behind the scenes worked with the appropriation members to make sure it didn't get funded. so in most states you don't know who is mentally incompetent to be given a firearm. >> yeah. >> that's what they do, and it's got to stop.

that is a big one. congressman jim moran, great to have you with us tonight. let's just identify. it is lax gun laws in america there is a lot of loopholes that have got to be closed. it is the fact that the nra is very influential in elections. but let's put the cards on the table. and i think we have done that tonight. it's the republicans too. it is the republicans. they are as much at fault as anybody else politically in this country when it comes to loose gun laws, and i think if we're just -- come right out and say that, i think we're going to be a heck of a lot better off trying to solve the problem. what republican wants to stand up and do something about what is happening on our streets and schools in this country? coming up, jesse jackson reacts to the nra's call to arms. and later, president obama nominates john kerry for the next secretary of state. presidential historian doug brinkley on why it's a great move for the president. stay with us.

the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> that was nra executive vice president wayne lapierre, just one week after a gunman killed 26 people at sandy hook elementary school in connecticut. the nra is putting blame on movies, video games, and calling for more guns to be placed in schools. i'm joined tonight by reverend jesse jackson, founder and president of the rainbow push

collision. reverend, good to have you with us tonight. thank you for your time. >> to you, sir. >> you bet. more guns in schools. is that the solution? >> no. he sounds as if he is tone-deaf to cries of the american people. we have the most guns of any nation on earth and the highest homicide. 32,000 americans are killed a year. 100,000 are injured. that's five times more than we have absolutely in the iraq war in ten years. you recall at the holocaust museum the shooting, the first person shot was the guard at the door. in the capitol two years ago the first person shot was the armed guard at the door. so they're no defense against semiautomatic weapons and glocks and these magazines. >> reverend, what hope do you see for changing the gun culture in this country if the forecast is you're not going to get any republicans to do anything on assault weapons ban, you're not going to get them to do anything on the number of bullets put in

a magazine and the availability of it all in closing the gun show loophole. i mean, these are the main things, main problems. i mean, what hope do you hold out for change in the culture? >> well, these republicans have been much too silent. they will not go on shows this week even to discuss it because they're trying to lead by fear, not lead by courage and not lead by hope. you know, right now we see the massacre at northern illinois university and virginia tech and aurora, and now, of course, in sandy hook. how painful it was to see those babies wiped out in that way. but, you know, the next level, these guns can wipe out airplanes and infrastructure. these are military assault weapons. and we're all less secure because of them. less secure. >> press conference for the nra angered a lot of people. what kind of backlash do you think that they're going to get? do you think that this is going to rile the american people against what they stand for? >> you know, 25% of all police are killed by assault weapons of which they have no defense. most police chiefs are nra

members, but they're also against assault weapons. so i'm not sure that lapierre speaks for all of the nra members. as we have broken down walls across the years, we always had to lead by courage forward than not backwards. whether you're a democrat or republican, those children were not killed in sandy hook based upon their ethnicity or their religion or their politics. it was human beings shot by madness. and the combination of a mental depression and that of posttraumatic syndrome, even put politics in chicago, for example, 49% people this year. 75% under the age of 18. so we look at 27, which was such a gross situation there in sandy hook, but in chicago, that's why at some point the president would come and speak in chicago and right here in inglewood because he is not just about mental illness. it's also about politics of war,

drug war, guns, and drugs in and jobs out. we have a very different warfare scene than in a place like this. >> what would you do to protect school children right now? >> i think, first, the ban on assault weapons is a step in the right direction. secondly, stop gun trafficking across state lines, second thing. the third thing is you must -- we have more police patrols around schools in chicago, in inglewood, for example. shootings are down because more police patrol. but these are official police patrolling as opposed to having armed bandits traveling. you really want to arm your police and your official militia, not have armed bandits driven by some form of drug warfare or something else of the sort. >> all right. reverend jesse jackson, good to have you with us tonight on "the ed show." thanks for your time. i appreciate it. there is a lot more coming up in the next half hour on "the ed show."

stay with us. >> i think it's fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as john kerry. this makes him a perfect choice to guide american diplomacy in the years ahead. >> big news for the senior senator from massachusetts. tonight, kerry biographer professor douglas brinkley on the president's nominee for secretary of state. bad news for red lobster and olive garden after they come out against obama care. we'll tell you how people are voting with their dollars. and you won't see the real victims of the real war on christmas on the kirby couch. >> what do you make of the political correctness part of our culture? >> john nichols of "the nation" magazine on people who stand to suffer the most when we go over the fiscal cliff. you can prevent gas with beano meltaways, or treat gas with these after you get it. now that's like sunblock before or sun burn cream later.

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. president obama made history tonight as he nominated our nation's 68th secretary of state. >> i'm very proud to announce my choice for america's next secretary of state, john kerry. so, john, i'm very grateful that you have agreed to take on this new assignment. i'm confident that the senate will confirm you quickly. but i know that you're going to be an outstanding secretary of state. thank you so much. congratulations. [ applause ] >> the president went on to praise senator kerry as the perfect choice to take over for secretary clinton. >> in a sense, john's entire life has prepared him for this role. as the son of a foreign service officer, he has a deep respect for the men and women of the state department. having served with valor in vietnam, he understands that we have a responsibility to use american power wisely. and as chairman of the foreign relations committee, john's played a central role in every major foreign policy debate for

nearly 30 years. i think it's fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as john kerry. and this makes him a perfect choice to guide american diplomacy in the years ahead. >> and there is no doubt senator kerry is the right person for the job. he has already traveled the globe on behalf of the obama administration, helping mend strained relationships with afghanistan and pakistan. his 27 years of experience on the senate foreign relations committee put him in the perfect position to tackle ongoing struggles in the middle east. senator kerry is expected to breeze through the confirmation process. and a number of lawmakers are already eyeing his senate seat. i'm joined tonight by doug brinkley, professor, president and historian, author and professor of history at rice university. doug, good to have you back with us. >> thank you. >> this would probably make one

of the strongest picks that the president could have gotten in this country, or am i wrong on that? >> oh, absolutely, ed. and, you know, he's replacing hillary clinton and to replace her is tough, but s world community is looking for somebody from america who is well-known. and john kerry, by virtue of being part of the foreign affairs game for so many decades now, and also just being respected all over the globe, he has made about ten visits to afghanistan and pakistan, working for barack obama. so this is a statesman. he is like one of the great wise men that you hear about during the truman years of george kennan and dean acheson, kerry is part of the foreign policy establishment in the best sense of that phrase. >> you wrote a book, a biography on senator john kerry. why is he uniquely positioned to do well? i mean, i know the experience. but his approach towards terrorism and his forward-thinking approach of negotiations and diplomacy seems to make him above the rest in so many ways.

is he respected around the world? >> very much respected around the world. and, remember, when he was a young man, his father was a diplomat. so he grew up in berlin, was in normandy, oslo. he speaks four to five languages quite competently. he is a global thinker. but on the war on terror, he has been -- he is tough. i mean, he is a great friend of israel, but yet he wants to see the peace process continue. and he is going to be the person who is going to have to start getting us out of afghanistan. i think he is right for that. he was tough on libya, calling for no-fly zone before anybody else. he had called for mubarak to step down before anybody else. so john kerry is somebody who is a war hero from vietnam, i mean, a bronze star, silver star, three purple hearts. so he is a warrior, but yet he is somebody who truly believes in negotiation and trying to have a peaceful world. and he also has great friendships on capitol hill. he is bipartisan. so people like lindsey graham and john mccain know him and respect him.

so i think he will breeze through the confirmation. >> well, with that, i want to play a sound bite of both those two senators that you just mentioned, their reaction today to the choice. here it is. >> we have known john kerry for many years. we have confidence in john kerry's ability to carry out the job. >> i think senator kerry was a very solid choice by the president. he has a lot of experience. he has been on the foreign relations committee for a very long time. he knows most of the world leaders. >> the susan rice/benghazi witch-hunt, what is your reaction to that? >> well, keep in mind john kerry is barack obama's first choice. susan rice wasn't a choice. she got tied up into the politics of benghazi. but this is who the president likes, believes in. kerry gave obama that great nominating speech slot in 2004. but kerry has been able to be bipartisan in the true sense. he has been able to cut deals and work with senators -- senator murkowski is a friend of his from alaska, for example.

this is going to be one of the best appointments, selections that the president could have made. and most people on capitol hill feel the same. >> quickly, will he go through confirmation easily? >> he will go through. i think vicki kennedy will come in and be the senator for that interim period. it's 145 to 160 days until governor deval patrick is going to set that up. i think he is probably going to run for senate. >> interesting. great to have you with us, professor. thank you so much. coming up, the owner of some big-name chain restaurants sees profits plunge after they attempt to skirt obama care. stay tuned. that's next.

and of course we always love hearing from our viewers on twitter and our facebook page. many of you are responding to the nra's call for armed guards at all schools, an attempt to

blame everything but guns for the shooting in newtown, connecticut. sheri wilson tweets "the nra sickens me. everybody is responsible but them. the nra needs to face the truth." okey moronu says " no matter what the entertainment media did, the nra provided the tools for the perpetrators to execute their plans. get rid of the guns. and the nra has blood on their hands, and anybody associated with them will suffer politically. keep sharing your thoughts with us on our facebook page and twitter using the #edshow. still to come, the fiscal cliff stalemate could cost john boehner his job as house speaker. but let me tell you, there are millions of unemployed americans out there. it could cost them their benefits and a lot of pain. that's ahead. stay with us.

welcome back to "the ed show."

nobody likes a scrooge, and i've got the numbers to prove it. darden restaurants, ever heard of them -- the umbrella corporation behind chains olive garden and red lobster, well, they did their best to avoid providing their workers with health care. now they're paying the price. here is the story. back in october, the company launched an anti-obama care experiment. darden quietly started putting more workers on part-time status. under obama care, darden wouldn't be required to provide coverage for its part-time workers who make up 75% of the company's workforce. fewer full-time employees, fewer people to insure. but once the media caught wind, so did the consumers. and karma comes in the form of a income, a net income drop of 37%. the american people are speaking with their wallets, and darden numbers tells us the american people don't like ceos who screw their employees out of health care. darden now claims that their

actions were misinterpreted. but this isn't the first time the company has tried to shortchange its workers. a restaurant workers organization found that darden pays as little as $2.13 an hour. by the way, that is the federal subminimum wage for tipped employees. that number hasn't changed since 1991. and darden has lobbied against minimum wage increases over the years. in the meantime, the ceo pay has increased 23% per year on average since 2005 to $8.5 million in 2011. 539 times the average annual compensation of restaurant workers. in other words, darden could have its very own vulture chart. we might have to make that one up. i don't know about you, but a never-ending pasta bowl isn't worth supporting a selfish, low-wage, low-benefit company.

tonight in our survey, i asked you do republicans want the country to go over the fiscal cliff? 95% of you say yes. 5% of you say no. coming up, while congress heads home for the holidays, millions of americans are wondering hey, what is going to happen to me? my taxes, my unemployment checks coming up in the new year. john nichols spells it out next. stay with us.

i understand you don't like to say happy holidays. why? >> well, you know, actually, i wish people always have happy holidays, but i tend to be a little bit more specific. i can't find any reference where santa has ever said anything other than merry christmas. >> and the big finish, fox and friends took its coverage of the war on christmas to a whole new level the last couple of days. and while fox spends its time covering an imaginary war, let me tell you, there is a real war going on this holiday season, affecting millions of out of work americans. over two million americans are set to lose their unemployment benefits just days after christmas. benefits will end december 29th if congress does not contact on the fiscal cliff. and according to the national employment law project, another one million jobless americans will also exhaust their state benefits early next year. karen duckett is just one of the folks who will be affected. she survived breast cancer, yet

doesn't know how she and her grandson will make ends meet once their benefits run out. the checks keep a roof over our head. i can't even imagine what we're going to do without that check. the cbo, the congressional budget office, says extending benefits another year will cost $30 billion, a small price tag when you consider other costs like extending tax cuts for millionaires. i'm joined tonight by john nichols, washington correspondent of "the nation" magazine. john, great to have you with us. you know, we focus on the deal, you know, who is going to get the tax break, where is the spending cuts, where are they going to come from. but in the backdrop of all of this, millions of americans have no security this christmas. they don't know whether their benefits are going to be extended. there is a lot of pain out there. who are these people? what should they do? >> these people are folks we know. my sister was unemployed for the

better part of ten months this year. she just found a job. and there are two million people, many of whom had decent jobs before the recession. mostly folks who live in rural areas and tougher cities, places that have been harder hit, where there just aren't jobs available, at least not quickly. one of the things to understand, ed, is that before this recession hit, if you were unemployed, your chances of getting a job in six months were pretty good, very good. now since this recession, you've just seen an explosion in the timeline. and also, in many parts of this country, the recovery has been very slow to come. it's a really tragic situation. and the one thing that people really need to understand here, ed, is that this money, putting this money into the pockets of the long-term unemployed does not harm the economy. it helps it. according to the congressional budget office, you actually end up with a $1.10 in economic

growth for every dollar that goes to a person who is long-term unemployed. >> well, why is this it's a no-brainer. why won't the congress move on this? the chief economist at moody says extending benefits will keep the recovery going. it just it seems to me that this is all upside for politicians who refuse to vote on it, who refuse to make a deal. your thoughts. >> this is really hard core ideology in play, folks who i think like mitt romney when he was talking about the 47%, like paul ryan when he was talking about makers versus takers there are an awful lot of folks in congress that folks are unemployed because they want to be unemployed, because they're lazy or something like that. it's simply false. i hate 20 go too far on a holiday metaphor, but if you go back and you read charles dickens, you see where the two gentlemen come to visit ebenezer scrooge on christmas eve and suggest to him that he might want to give a little to